7 year old just punched me in the face

[SomeonesRealName]

Forgot to hide his PS4 controllers this morning (he has to do learning first) and so took them off him when he got up. He went berserk yelling at me and hitting at me, saying he would smash our TV. I gave him a warning and tried to distract him but then he continued so I tried to put him in time out and that's when he punched me in the face with a closed fist. It really hurt. His timer finished but he was still giving me attitude and tbh I felt nowhere near ready to hug and make up. He's still on the step. Any advice?

My 9 year old granddaughter said. He’s only 7 . She has suggested a treasure hunt to find the PS 4 controllers (math,English,spelling and grammar clues to find the controllers) also once he has found the controllers find some learning games.P.S getting angry at him will make the situation worse tell him he how you feel when he hit you and why he needs to stop.

@PopsicleHustler

If my child hit me , boy would they regret it. I cant stand kids talking back or being cheeky and disrespectful to their parents. I wouldn't give him his controllers for two weeks.

Just be careful with this one. My mother was the same, any attempt to explain my position was met with 'don't you backchat me!' and likely a slap across the head.

It's made me very averse to confrontation or speaking my mind about things. Cheekiness and disrespect, fair enough, but be careful that your idea of 'talking back' isn't reducing your children's right of reply.

to people saying the gaming is a red herring , would the child be kicking off about say ownership of a ball or a lost part of a jigsaw? I don't think so. Would said jigsaw or ball illicit such power that it had to be hidden every evening?

Get him out, moving, running ,cycling out of the bloody house and with other active kids.

The play station would be gone in our house until behaviour improved.
A day in his bedroom with some books and paper to write down his thoughts.
Also there would have been no distracting, he's not a baby, you can't just distract when someone attacks you physically.

to people saying the gaming is a red herring , would the child be kicking off about say ownership of a ball or a lost part of a jigsaw? I don't think so. Would said jigsaw or ball illicit such power that it had to be hidden every evening?

I was never the sort of child to have a temper tantrum in the first place, but I do recall how absolutely 100% livid I was when my parents would take my books away from me because they wanted me to play outside more/play with my brother. If I had been the kind of child with a temper, yes, absolutely I think this would have caused me to kick off.

DD does have a bit of a temper. When it escalated (during lockdown - I think this is definitely a thing) it was because her brother was teasing her. Nothing to do with screens whatsoever. She lashed out in a way that was completely unacceptable. She's only 5 but there was some serious conversations, she cried a lot and there were consequences. She was also made very aware that any second instance of such behaviour would lead to significantly more consequences.

So no, I'm not going to blame devices. I am more than willing to concede that devices may be changing things, but then if you don't want to deal with that, take them away completely until they're 16. They are here. Our children need to learn to use at least some of them. We now have to learn how to help them to do this in a way that is healthy. Blaming the devices doesn't help and makes you powerless.

I didn't blame the device. The device has a very powerful pull in my opinion, particularly on young boys. parents are at their wits end and the child is occupied. I cannot imagine the same process going on in the brain, over a book. The whole process is different, reading is slower, there are pays offs but you have to work for them. It is largely a solitary uncompetative activity.

The whole process is different, reading is slower, there are pays offs but you have to work for them. It is largely a solitary uncompetative activity.

Ask my parents how much I complained! . especially if book was exciting and I wanted to see what happens at the end.... .

But yes, I'm denying these devices have a pull. I'm just saying that too often I see people blaming them. And that's pointless. Take them away, or find a way to work with it because at the end of the day, as parents, we have to help our children learn to navigate this stuff.

My six year old hid on the toilet to complete Harry Potter. Did I have to get up in the morning and hide the book? No, because reading is an internal activity, a voyage inward, a dream, a creative experience.

Killing things on a screen is not the same.

Yes navigate and parent but the damn things have a pull. Why are the kids of the people who invented this stuff not allowed near them?

"
My six year old hid on the toilet to complete Harry Potter. Did I have to get up in the morning and hide the book? No, because reading is an internal activity, a voyage inward, a dream, a creative experience.

Killing things on a screen is not the same"

Typical ignorant MN shite.

"Why are the kids of the people who invented this stuff not allowed near them?"

LOL where did you get that from?? 😂

Nice to chat Dee, its not shite. Do you have a brain? Do you know anything about synapses and circuits and neuroplasticity in the developing brain?

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/bill-gates-and-steve-jobs-raised-their-kids-techfree-and-it-shouldve-been-a-red-flag-a8017136.html

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did not invent games consoles.

Tell him there are consequences. Glove up and go three rounds.

@Hyperion100

Tell him there are consequences. Glove up and go three rounds.

Wins the thread.

We took all tech away for 3 months from all 4 kids. 2 had broken the rules in a v short period and it was the only way to be sure they weren't using the other siblings tech.

Imagine how much it'll hurt when he punches you in the face when he's 16.

Sort it now.

But yes, I'm denying these devices have a pull. I'm just saying that too often I see people blaming them. And that's pointless. Take them away, or find a way to work with it because at the end of the day, as parents, we have to help our children learn to navigate this stuff.

Obviously that should be NOT denying they have a pull.

my son is only 3 but if he were behaving like that over anything gamey/tvish he'd never be seeing that thing again without question.

What games is he playing?

He's not mature enough to handle a console.

eBay it.

I would get rid and give it away.

No 7 year old should be hitting you and you should not accept it.
He needs to learn this is not acceptable and there are severe consquences for this type of behaviour.

It will only get worse if you don't deal with this properly now.

My mum would have smashed it up there and then.
Fist or hammer, both would have worked.But it would be gone.

Firstly hope you're ok.

In our house, once something was an argument too regularly , I put it away for a reasonable length of time (like a month).

Your description of all the tokens and stuff made me feel very drained. That may not be helping.

Could he be very frustrated for any understandable reason?

Dee, well spotted....but they had the wit to realise a little blue thumb fires up the reward circuit in the brain, hence it is not ideal for children to be plugged into machines 24/7.

Ransomer, your last four posts are spot on though I don't think you'll have a meeting of minds with Dee. You'll know it's not just Steve Jobs and Bill Gate that banned their children from these, I think many of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have done so and, I think, chose schools that didn't use computers much if at all in the curriculum. To be fair, I vaguely recall Bill Gates argue that for the poor, online resources can be cheap and provide access to information where books would be unaffordable whereas I think his childrens' schools were sufficiently resources to provide education without that trade off. So it wasn't hypocrisy, just a recognition of costs and benefits.